William Franklyn (British Army officer)

Early life and education

Franklyn was born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, the eldest surviving son of Rev. Thomas Edmund Franklyn and Selina Elizabeth Hope. He was educated at Rugby School.

Military career

Franklyn was commissioned into the 19th Regiment of Foot in 1874, which in 1881 became the Yorkshire Regiment, and later still became the Green Howards, and was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at Aldershot in 1888.

Franklyn was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1902 Coronation Honours published on 26 June 1902, and received the decoration from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.

Franklyn became commander of 10th Infantry Brigade with the temporary rank of brigadier general on 15 October 1902. The brigade was based at Shorncliffe Army Camp, serving with the 5th Division within the II Army Corps. Reverting to his substantive rank of colonel, he was appointed director of personal services at the War Office in March 1904, He was advanced to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in June 1912.

In 1914 he was appointed Governor of Malta, despite his lack of war experience, but never took up the appointment. He died later that year, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War,

Franklyn was given the colonelcy of the Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) in October 1906, a position he held until his death in October 1914.

Personal life

In 1881, Franklyn married Helen Williams, daughter of Edwin Williams, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He was the father of General Sir Harold Franklyn (1885–1963) and Brigadier Geoffrey Franklyn (1889–1967). His daughter, Dorothy Hope Franklyn (1883–1929), married George Edward Mervyn Thorneycroft and was the mother of politician Lord Thorneycroft.

References

References

1. ''1861 England Census''
2. (29 October 1914). "Army commander dies at Luton Hoo". The Luton News.
3. (1914). "[[Burke's Peerage". Burke's Peerage & Gentry.
4. [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/FRANKLYN1.shtml Sir William Edmund Franklyn] Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
5. {{London Gazette. (12 June 1874)
6. He was made [[Commanding Officer]] of the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment and served on the [[North-West Frontier (military history). (12 February 1901)
7. (26 June 1902). "The Coronation Honours".
8. {{London Gazette. (26 June 1902)
9. (25 October 1902). "Court Circular".
10. (12 September 1902). "Army Corps appointments".
11. {{London Gazette. (17 October 1902)
12. {{London Gazette. (8 April 1904)
13. {{London Gazette. (18 June 1912)
14. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=689&dat=19140811&id=jh8cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pFUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3824,3579682 Gossip & Notables] The Montreal Daily Mail, 11 August 1914
15. (1923). "Memorials of Rugbeians who Fell in the Great War ...". Rugby School.
16. {{London Gazette. (12 October 1906)
17. "The Green Howards". Regiments.Org.
18. (1 April 1963). "Gen. Sir Harold Franklyn – The Dunkirk Campaign". [[The Times]].
19. (20 December 1929). "Deaths". [[The Times]].